The present invention relates generally to an x-ray scattering camera, and more particularly relates to a two-dimensional x-ray scattering camera.
In x-ray scattering, the performance of the camera is typically characterized by the flux, the resolution, defined as the beam diameter at the detector position divided by the sample-to-detector distance, and a parameter Qmin, defined as
            Q      min        =                            4          ⁢                                          ⁢          π                λ            ⁢      sin      ⁢                          ⁢              θ        min              ,where λ is the wavelength and θmin is the minimum access angle (i.e., the smallest angle, relative to the primary beam, at which meaningful scattering can be collected). In general, increasing the resolution of the system decreases the flux and Qmin, whereas increasing the flux decreases the resolution and Qmin.
To address these issues, a camera known as a Kratky camera using a collimation block and an x-ray source in a line projection was developed. The Kratky camera has achieved high resolution, good flux and Qmin, but it is a one-dimensional camera and therefore suffers from smearing. Although many de-smearing procedures have been developed, some amount of information is still unavoidably lost. Moreover, because of its one-dimensional nature, the Kratky camera can be used only for isotropic samples. The pinhole camera, such as three-pinhole systems, were developed to overcome some of the shortcomings of the Kratky camera. The pinhole camera eliminates the lateral smearing caused by a one-dimensional beam, and can be used to investigate anisotropic samples. However, the pinhole camera has a low flux, low resolution, and its Qmin is limited to about 0.005 Å−1. In sum, the fundamental limitations of each type of camera have not been overcome: the Kratky camera cannot be used for investigating anisotropic samples, and the pinhole camera cannot achieve a very high resolution and low Qmin.
From the above, it is seen that there exists a need for an improved two-dimensional camera with high resolution and low Qmin.